Dead hearts
by theyellowone
Summary: Gotham is a hive of crime which must be eradicated, or at least that's what Roy and the rest of the army think. However, his sister Artemis is beginning to have her doubts. AU. Songfic. K for war.


**I do not own Young Justice**

**Told you I would update! :D Thankfully this is a one shot so I won't leave it for a year without an update like last time. I would really appreciate any comments or criticisms you have about my writing especially my paragraphs and punctuation because I suck at them. This is an AU but I've tried to explain the main difference at the beginning. This is a songfic for dead hearts by stars which is actually a song about ghosts but it's one of those where everyone has a different interpretation, and here's mine!**

**I hope you enjoy**

* * *

Gotham had once been a majestic city, overflowing with history and culture. It was home to the richest and most powerful people in the world.

But from the city grew psychopaths and criminals. Soon the city was a breeding ground for them, a market, a battlefield. Eventually the crime riddled city came to the decision to cut themselves off from the entire world. No one got in and, more importantly, no one got out.

But it still wasn't enough and the decision was made to eradicate the villain's nest completely. Armies of soldiers, super heroes, and volunteers fought to arrest every citizen, who would then go through a thorough background check before being released into society. But it was a well known fact that every citizen would get some form of sentence. Because in Gotham, if you hadn't done something worthy of being imprisoned, then you were dead.

* * *

He stared out into the smoky fog floating in the streets. He choked slightly on the brick dust in the air that had risen as the buildings fell.

A figure started to emerge from the darkness, he raised his gun in anticipation trying to determine the persons identity. As they came closer he could discern more features, a blonde ponytail swished out behind them, steely grey eyes slowly became visible.

"Artemis!" He yelled out recognising his fifteen year old sister's form, she wasn't stealthily running as she usually was. She was numbly walking, oblivious to the world around her, in the no mans land between the bunkers and the gothamites make-shift barricade.

_Tell me everything that happened  
Tell me everything you saw_

He vaulted over the bunker walls and ran out, dodging the larger chunks of debris, he grabbed his sister and dragged her stumbling form into the relative safety of the trench that ran across the street facing the only land entrance into Gotham. All the bridges had been blown up weeks ago.

A small crowd gathered around them, amongst them he recognised Kaldur'ahm, one of the Atlantian soldiers sent by their king to assist in the land dwellers war. He also recognised Kr and M'gann, meta humans sent by the justice league to fight, back when there was a justice league. He crouched down to his younger sister's height and angled her head so that her worryingly blank eyes looked into his.

"What's your report Artemis?" He asked hoping the formality would snap her out of her daze.

_They had light inside their eyes  
They had light inside their eyes_

Her eyes briefly focused on something past his head and her lips gently curved up as she spoke,

"They looked so full of life, so determined" she sounded as though she were talking to herself rather than Roy. Worried whispers started to float up from behind them concerning how fondly she spoke of the enemy. Roy turned around and glared at them silencing the whisperers.

_Did you see the closing window?  
Did you hear the slamming door?_

Roy decided to go down a different route:

"Did you scout out the area? Is there any way to bypass the barricade?" Artemis didn't acknowledge him she just kept staring at that space beyond his head and continued talking about the soldiers she saw.

She remembered there were four of them, all male, three had jet black hair and one was ginger.

_They moved forward, my heart died  
They moved forward, my heart died_

"When they saw me they started to come towards me, I think that for a minute they forgot there was a war on" her distant eyes started to fill with tears as she remembered one of them lurching forward and taking a few steps before stopping and stepping back, she could see that he briefly smiled under the scarf that he wore as a mask to stop him from breathing in all of the dust in the air.

_Please please tell me what they looked like  
Did they seem afraid of you_

Roy was becoming desperate now, he shook Artemis gently

"How many were there?" He asked her desperate for a response "what were they wearing? Did you let them see you?" Artemis seemed to get pulled out of her dreamlike state by his question. When she answered her voice started to break and the tears threatened to spill out of her eyes.

_They were kids that I once knew  
They were kids that I once knew_

"It was Dick, Roy. Him and his little brothers were the only ones guarding the city" Roy stumbled back shocked.

He and Artemis had been born in Gotham and had only gotten leaving passes a few years ago. Dick was a thirteen year old boy and the adopted son of the richest and least corrupt man in Gotham, Bruce Wayne who like most other stubborn citizens had been killed by the army, his youngest brother was only ten with the other two being eleven and twelve.

_I could say it but you wont believe me  
You say you do but you don't deceive me  
It's hard to know they're out there  
It's hard to know that you still care_

"Artemis, promise me that this wont affect your fighting" Roy asked her staring into her tear filled eyes.

"But- they were my friends- your friends. We could save them, they could become informants-"

"Artemis" he interrupted her "we left them behind they are nothing to us any more but the enemy"

_I could say it but you wont believe me  
You say you do but you don't deceive me  
Dead hearts are everywhere_

"Say it Art. Even if you don't mean it just say it" he whispered. He suspected that the clone could hear him but he didn't care.

"Just tell me that they are the enemy" he was begging, he needed her fighting beside him, she was all he had left. She was sobbing too much to answer now, the flood gates had opened.

_Did you touch them?  
Did you hold them?  
Did they follow you to town?_

He realised he was yelling at her and holding her too tightly.

"How close did you get?" He asked deciding to go back to gentle questioning and asses the damage done."Did you speak to them?" He asked getting no response to his first question. Then something sparked in his mind "Did they think you were on their side? Did they let you into the city?" She looked at him sadly

_They make me feel I'm falling down  
They make me feel I'm falling down_

"They yelled something at me but I couldn't tell what they said. As soon as I saw them everything just... Stopped. I felt like the world was trying to swallow me whole" the tears still carved tracks down her dirt coated face. Feeling sympathy for the younger girl he sat down and gently pulled her with him, cradling her in an embrace.

_Was there one you saw too clearly?  
Did they seem too real to you?_

"Will you still be able to fight or is it too much?" He asked her. Part of him wanted her to leave, wanted her to get out of the danger zone. She stared up at him her eyes filled with sadness and betrayal.

_They were kids that I once knew  
They were kids that I once knew_

"They were my friends, Roy. I thought they were yours too" memories flooded Roy's mind of chasing around Gotham with the four boys, trying to keep up with them as they ran, jumped and somersaulted over rooftops. They were his best memories of Gotham, and in fact his only good ones. But they were refusing to cooperate they couldn't see the greater good that would come out of the destruction of Gotham.

_I could say it but you wont believe me  
You say you do but you don't deceive me  
It's hard to know they're out there  
It's hard to know that you still care_

Artemis looked into her older brother's eyes and saw the steely determination.

"I can't believe you" she said her upper lip raising in disgust.

"Look they were my friends, but we need to do this. It was only a matter of time before the city corrupted them like it did to mom and dad" Artemis cringed at the mention of her parents, when they were young their parents had been normal, loving people but the city slowly poisoned their parents, killing them until Artemis and Roy had no other option but to escape the city and their family.

_I could say it but you wont believe me  
You say you do but you don't deceive me  
Dead hearts are everywhere_

"Gotham was supposed to keep the villains away but now all it's doing is infecting the rest of the world. You've got to kill the disease at it's source, I thought you knew that" Roy was disappointed in his sister, they had gone through so much but one look at old friends had taken her back.

Artemis stared at Roy. He had changed, the boy she grew up with was long gone and all that remained was this cruel man preparing to gun down children.

_They were kids that I once knew  
They were kids that I once knew  
Now they're all dead hearts to you.  
Now they're all dead hearts to you.  
They were kids that I once knew  
They were kids that I once knew  
Now they're all dead hearts to you_

A fire lit in Artemis' eyes. She had made her choice she stood and walked out of the bunker, hands raised in surrender, and strode across no man's land. She heard Roy screaming out for her, but he made no move to follow.

As she reached the barricade she saw Tim, the second youngest, tightly gripping a gun which looked comically big compared to his slight frame.

"I've come to enlist" she called out. After some convincing they let her across the barricade and into Gotham.

"This is our army" Tim told her pointing at a collection of boys, five boys, Dick and his younger brothers, Damian and Jason, and a red-head who was introduced as Wally.

"This is it?" She asked thinking of the thousands of men and women waiting in the bunkers. The boys solemnly nodded.

"Are you prepared to kill?" Damian asked bluntly. Hearing that from a ten year old killed a little piece of her soul. She knew what her answer was.

"Yes. Because this is my home and you are my friends and I will protect you until the very end" the boys smiled and the six children lay on their stomachs atop the barricade constructed from rubble and broken furniture. They stared, guns ready, through the scopes, waiting for the charge of soldiers that would wipe them out.

No matter what they were going down fighting. Together.

* * *

**Done! So once again please comment and tell me what you thought. I have a few more young justice and hetalia stories, one shots and crossovers in the works so watch this space. I hope to hear from you soon :)**


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